FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT VISITORS CENTER - PAGE 3

The first stage of a project to transform a former Morning Call bureau office in Bethlehem into a city visitors center is progressing, as interior modifications to the structure at 509 Main St. is expected to allow the interim use of the building by next month. City tourism officials expect to be ready to move into temporary offices in the building sometime in November, said Ralph G. Schwarz, a project coordinator. The Bethlehem Visitor Collegium purchased the building from The Morning Call in May, aided by a $144,000 interest-free loan from the non-profit Lehigh Valley Industrial Park.

The board of the Sun Inn Preservation Association yesterday became the second Bethlehem Collegium group to approve Sand Island for the city's proposed visitors center. The directors of the Moravian Museum gave their approval last week. The Sun Inn directors also elected Tom A. Tenges as president, succeeding Ken Oaks. Tenges, a member of the board, is vice president for development at Moravian College. Collegium President Robert Snyder gave a 45-minute presentation about the proposed visitors center, outlining the reasons Sand Island was chosen, describing conditions that must be met before the site may be developed and answering board members' questions.

As of today, the thousands of tourists who visit Easton's Crayola Factory won't have to walk far to learn what else they can do in the Lehigh Valley. A prominent corner of Two Rivers Landing, the building that houses the Crayola Factory as well as the National Canal Museum, now features a 400-square-foot visitors center run by the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It's going to benefit all of us," said Mayor Sal Panto Jr., speaking at the visitors center ribbon-cutting Monday afternoon.

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will reopen parts of the Kittatinny Point area today in New Jersey, park Superintendent John Donahue announced in a news release. The site has been closed since April, when the Delaware River flooded, washing away campsites and coating the area in mud. The picnic area, grounds and canoe ramp will be available, as will most of the campsites along the river, the release noted. The visitors center and the boat ramp, however, will remain closed.

Attracting new industry to the Lehigh Valley is critical for economic growth and sufficient jobs. Another, possibly more feasible, way to accomplish the same objective is to turn to the companies who already have made their homes here and encourage them to expand. Just Born, the venerable 81-year-old family-owned candy company in Bethlehem, recently announced the possibility of just such a venture. As a leading non-chocolate candy company, it's exploring the possibility of opening what it calls a "world-class visitors center," to accommodate the many people who request a tour of the company and the plant.

Just Born Inc., the Bethlehem candymaker famous for its marshmallow Peeps, will unveil its proposal for a visitors and educational center Wednesday to the public. The conceptual drawings will lay out how the company would allow tours of its plant while candy is being made. It also contains sketches of what the center would look like from the outside. "Part of what we need to figure out is how to run a tour through the factory floor, using some sort of divider with Plexiglas so there is no exposure to the food and for the safety of the public," spokeswoman Cindy Glick said.

Just Born Inc., the candymaker famous for its marshmallow Peeps, is studying the possibility of building "a world-class visitors center" at its Stefko Boulevard plant in Bethlehem, a project that could spur economic development and complement other Lehigh Valley family attractions. Bethlehem officials said such a project could be the driving force behind revitalizing the Stefko Boulevard corridor in the eastern part of the city, which lies just north of billion-dollar redevelopment plans on old Bethlehem Steel land.

Candymaker Just Born has abandoned a "world class visitors center" project, complicating Bethlehem's plans to turn that stretch of Stefko Boulevard into a tourist attraction, but in the long run, it won't be a big loss to the Lehigh Valley's tourist industry, community leaders say. While tours of the plant that makes the famous Peep marshmallow candies were expected to draw 450,000 visitors to an underused part of the city, community leaders say...

Guests of a future visitors center at Bethlehem's Just Born Inc. would enter through a gigantic yellow Peep that would glow at night, according to concept drawings released Wednesday. Once inside the 40,000- to 60,000-square-foot center, guests would be in a museum-like setting with rooms designed around the candymaker's products, such as the marshmallow Peeps and Mike and Ike jelly beans. A "Hot Tamales" room resembling the inside of a person's mouth, for example, could teach visitors how the body senses heat, said Lee Skolnick, the project's designer, during a public meeting Wednesday on the center's future.